How fair is fair?

Yesterday we thought it was kind of funny that LaToya was still saying "fair share" about everything, including, now, the Entergy rate case negotiations, like it's some sort of tic she's developed.  Today, though, it's less funny since it appears she has signed onto a proposal from Entergy that looks a lot like her bargain with the tourism cabal that is the actual genesis of that catch phrase.   

The company is offering to send up to $75 million in a one-time payment to the embattled Sewerage & Water Board if the City Council allows it to earn 10% profit,  the company's vice president told council members in an email.

The utility suggested the money could go toward building a modern power substation for the S&WB, which operates more than half of the pumps in its drainage system on an older power standard that is used almost nowhere else.

Cantrell has spent much of this year trying to secure more money for local infrastructure improvements, especially those sought by the S&WB. 

So to recap, here is what has happened so far. Hopefully this won't be too technical.  City Council's regulatory consultants (themselves not exactly hostile to Entergy's interests) recommended we hold Entergy to an 8.93% ROE. (Return On Equity: the figure that determines a regulated monopoly's profits). Entergy balked at that.  LaToya intervened at that point on behalf of something called the Crescent City Power Users Coalition in order to help Entergy negotiate the rate up to 9.35%.

The "Power Users" are apparently comprised of several entities with large electricity bills including Touro Infirmary, University Medical Center, New Orleans Cold Storage, and Sewerage and Water Board. It is assumed that Cantrell's deal offered those entities a better rate and spread more of the burden onto regular ratepayers. But that is just an assumption at this point.

Whatever it was, Entergy's CEO later decided it wasn't good enough for them. So now they want to back out and the mayor has spurned even her friends in the "Power Users" coalition in order to back out along with them. We thought, yesterday, that the City Council had rendered the whole matter moot by moving the case to its consent agenda for Thursday, essentially declaring the argument over.

But now we find out today that Entergy is offering this $75 million kickback.  The mayor thinks that is too good to pass up. It's difficult to understand why she thinks that, exactly.  This story suggests it's because this arrangement makes it look like more of an accomplishment for her, specifically. Although it doesn't quote her directly, that's how we would interpret this, anyway. 

Cantrell's office said Entergy's latest offer indicates its willingness to do more for residents at her urging.

But if that really is the case, she's made a mistake. Leave alone for a moment the point that a one time $75 million donation to Sewerage and Water Board is, pardon this expression, a drop in the bucket.  It's also just a wholly inappropriate way to go about raising the money. As Helena Moreno correctly points out here, it's not a gift to the city from Entergy. It's just something else you will pay for via higher electricity bills. 

However, City Councilwoman Helena Moreno said Entergy ultimately would get the money for the S&WB contribution from its customers — the residents and businesses of New Orleans. She said Entergy should be more upfront about that fact.

“If ratepayers are asked to foot the bill, we need a transparent process to examine these projects, along with how much more the people of this city will have to pay,” Moreno said.

And, of course, in the long run, once they make their $75 million back, it's just a rate hike.  As was the case with the tourism bargain, this is a deal that sustains corporate profits while increasing the costs borne by poor and working class New Orleanians.  Every time this happens we get a clearer understanding of how the mayor defines, "fair share."

Anyway, it looks from here like City Council isn't going for any of this and is set to approve their original compromise rates tomorrow.  But who knows what sorts of negotiations are happening this afternoon.  Maybe Entergy has decided to play hardball.

NEW ORLEANS — City Hall and the Orleans Parish Civil Court were shut down Wednesday afternoon after losing power.

City officials posted about the power outage on social media around 1:30 p.m. An Entergy outage map did not show the outage, but the company did tweet that "crews are on site assessing the cause of the power outage."

That's a joke, of course.  But then again, this is the mayor who tried to cut off everybody's water last year so maybe let's not underestimate the potential for wacky behavior here.